Districts of Mandatory Palestine

The districts of Mandatory Palestine formed the first level of administrative division and existed through the whole era of Mandatory Palestine, namely from 1920 to 1948. The number and territorial extent of them varied over time, as did their subdivision into sub-districts.

In Arabic, a district was known as a minṭaqah (منطقة, plural manaṭiq مناطق), while in Hebrew it was known as a mahoz (מחוז, plural mehozot מחוזות).

Each district had an administration headed by a District Governor, a role renamed as District Commissioner in 1925.[1]

Until June 1920, Palestine was under a formal military regime called O.E.T.A. (South). Initially the country was divided into 13 administrative districts, reduced to 10 in 1919, each under a military government.[2]

At the start of 1920 there were 9 districts: Jerusalem, Jaffa, Hebron, Jenin, Safed, Acre, Tiberias, Tulkarem and Beersheba,[3] but this division was modified by the following month to Jerusalem, Haifa, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Safed, Acre, Tiberias, Galilee, Tulkarem and Beersheba.[4]

The division was revised after the adoption of a civilian administration in the middle of 1920. In September 1920, the districts were Jerusalem, Galilee, Phoenicia (formerly Haifa), Samaria, Jaffa, Gaza and Beersheva.[5]

In July 1922, administrations of the districts of Phoenicia and Galilee were combined, as were the districts of Jerusalem and Jaffa, and the districts of Gaza and Beersheba.[6] Some reassignment of sub-districts also occurred.[6]

At the time of the October, 1922, census of Palestine, there were four districts divided into 18 sub-districts.[7]

In 1937, the Acre, Beisan, Nazareth, Safad and Tiberius sub-districts were removed from the Northern District to form a new Galilee District headquartered at Nazareth.[10] In 1938, the Beersheba and Gaza sub-districts were separated from the Southern District.[11] Then in 1939, the Administrative Division (Amendment) Proclamation reshaped the country into six districts.[12] The name of the Galilee and Acre District was changed to Galilee District in December.[13]

The Administrative Divisions (Amendment) Proclamation, 1945 reduced the number of sub-districts of the Jerusalem District to three.[14][15] Although not published until June, it stated that the change "shall be deemed to have come into force on the 1st January, 1945".[16]